La Crosse, city, seat of La Crosse County, western Wisconsin, at the junction of the Mississippi, Black, and La Crosse rivers; incorporated 1856. It is a commercial and transportation center of a farm area, with diversified manufactures including beer, heating and air-conditioning systems, rubber products, sporting goods, clothing, and plastics. The tourism and financial service industries are also important to the economy. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (1909), Viterbo College (1890), and a junior college are here. Permanently settled in 1842, La Crosse was a sawmilling center until the decline of local lumbering around 1900. The community's name commemorates the Native American game of lacrosse, seen played here by 18th-century French traders.